Amur-Lena Offensive (Hitler's World)
The Amur-Lena Offensive (Japanese: ) was a Imperial Japanese Army operation on the Siberian theater in the Pacific War of World War II. It took place between 22 June and 2 December 1941. The offensive took Japanese forces from their start lines on the Amur River almost 2,704 mi (4,352 km) to the Lena River; where the Soviet Sakha Republic capital of Yakutsk is located. It was the largest invasion ever in human history, and the largest invasion ever mounted by the Empire of Japan. Over 90 percent of the Imperial Japanese Army's total man power and material resources were concentrated to the Siberian theater. Following the Empire of Japan's introduction of Hokushin-ron ("Northern Expansion Doctrine"), which stated that Manchuria and Siberia were the Japanese Empire's sphere of interest and that the potential value to the Empire of Japan for economic and territorial expansion in those areas was greater than elsewhere. In 1939, the Japanese Kwantung Army (Hitler's World)Kwantung Army were victorious in the Battles of Khalkhin Gol (Nomonhan), which had an major impact on the Imperial Japanese Army. The Imperial Japanese Army began to make preparations for an invasion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union, to be carried no later than mid-1941. The invasion, codenamed Operation: Hachi-Go (Hachi-Go no. 8) called for the eventual commitment of the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army: 170 divisions and numerous smaller formations, a total of over 5 million men, 5,775 tanks, 33,500 artillery pieces and mortars, and 9,000 aircraft. The Imperial Japanese Navy would also participate in the invasion, as the navy would assault Vladivostok, the homebase of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, to eliminate the Soviet Pacific Fleet. In the first phase, 20 divisions would be massed along the Ussuri (Iman) under the 1st Area Army (army group). The Japanese 3rd and 7th Armies would strike towards Voroshilov; the 5th Army would strike at Iman and sever the railway and cut off Vladivostok. Remaining divisions would conduct supporting operations or be in reserve. Along the northern front, the 4th Army would engage in delaying actions north of the Lesser Hsingan Mountains. Along the western front, the 6th Army would engage in holding operations west of the Greater Hsingan Mountains. Second phase operations on the eastern front would have the 3rd and 7th Armies advance upon Vladivostok while the 5th Army struck north to seize Khabarovsk. It culminated in the Battle of Khabarovsk, one of the largest battles fought on the Siberian theater. The Imperial Japanese Army general staff had informed the Kwantung Army in early 1939 that such an invasion of Siberia required the provision of at least 200,000 motor vehicles and an great expansion of railroads in Manchuria and the Soviet Far East. The Battles of Khalkhin Gol had been an rehearsal, so the Imperial Japanese Army made preparations for the planned Operation: Hachi-Go. The Imperial Japanese Navy also prepared for the invasion, and provided with at least four aircraft carrier battle groups which were placed close to the Primorsky Krai (Maritime Province) and the Sakhalin Islands, respective. Primorsky Krai was to be cut off from the rest of the USSR, and then be conquered by the advancing 3rd, 5th and 7th Armies, respective. Once Primorsky Krai was conquered, the 3rd, 5th and 7th Armies would link up with 4th and 6th Armies to march on Lake Baikal and the major cities of Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. It later culminated in the Battle of Krasnoyarsk, and the massive-offensive on the Krasnoyarsk Krai in order to encircle the Soviet forces fighting in the heavily defended Sakha Republic. The Amur-Lena Offensive was extended with the massive Operation: Ichi-Go, the Japanese military campaign for the Republic of China, planned for mid-1944 when it was added to the Amur-Lena Offensive Operation. Operation Ichi-Go was a military campaign of a series of major battles fought between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Japanese Kwantung Army between April and December 1944. It consisted of three separate battles in the Chinese provinces of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi. These battles were the Japanese Operation Kogo or Battle of Central Henan, Operation Togo 1 or the Battle of Changheng, and Operation Togo 2 and Togo 3, or the Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou, respectively. The two primary goals of Ichi-Go were to open a land route to French Indochina, and capture air bases in southeast China from which American bombers were attacking the Japanese homeland and shipping. 34 divisions, including 1,000,000 troops, 25,000 vehicles, 10,000 artillery pieces, 1,500 tanks and 200,000 horses participated in Operation Ichi-Go, making it the largest land campaign ever organized by the Japanese during the entire Second Sino-Japanese War, and the second largest military campaign organized by the Empire of Japan during the entire World War II. It was a decisive Japanese victory, as the Japanese closed in on the capital city of Chungking. This led to the decisive Battle of Chungking and capture of Chungking by the Kwantung Army in January 1945, bringing an end to the Second Sino-Japanese War. The final battle of Operation Ichi-Go, the Battle of Xi'an, was fought between the National Revolutionary Army and the Kwantung Army at the same time as the Battle of Chungking in 1945. It ended with the largest casualties ever inflicted on the Imperial Japanese Army, but it was a pyrrhic Japanese victory and Xi'an was captured in February 1945.